Man accused of killing parents shot by sheriff's deputy

CANTON, Ga. -- A Cherokee County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man suspected of murdering his parents in Union County.

Cherokee County Sheriff's Lt. Jay Baker said deputies were given a Georgia Bureau of Investigation lookout Thursday evening for 34-year-old Anthony Payne.

The bodies of 59-year-old Charles Payne and 67-year-old Louise Payne were found Thursday evening at a house in Blairsville. The Paynes had been shot to death, according to GBI spokesman John Bankhead.

At around 11 p.m., a Ford F-150 matching the one owned by the suspects' parents was stopped by deputies on Toonigh Road near Morgan Road in Canton. Baker said Anthony Payne, the couple's son, was inside and quickly fled on foot.

Acting on information, deputies went to a house on Swan Lane in Canton and made contact with Payne. Baker said the armed man refused to drop his weapon and both the deputy and the suspect fired.

Payne was shot and pronounced dead on the scene. The deputy was not harmed.

The investigation into the officer-involved shooting has been handed over to the GBI Regional Office in Conyers, Bankhead said.